Caught in web of confusion and class malady, RTE fails to take off

The government of India may have come up with the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2009 with the intention of providing access to education to the financially-deprived, but the Act is yet to make its impact felt, feel educationists.

| TNN | Updated: Dec 5, 2012, 05:24 IST

VISAKHAPATNAM: The government of India may have come up with the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2009 with the intention of providing access to education to the financially-deprived, but the Act is yet to make its impact felt, feel educationists.
Not only is the Act fraught with loopholes but with many corporate and private schools going to court, the matter has become subjudice and is yet to be implemented, the educationists say.

Apart from the financial burden that many educationists and institutions fear they would have to bear due to RTE, there is also the problem of bridging the class divide in a country which is increasingly becoming class conscious.

'Nowhere is it being implemented in toto,' observed the principal of a popular school in Visakhapatnam, when asked if there was any school in Vizag or Hyderabad which was actually implementing the RTE Act in letter and spirit.

However, there are some schools that are making a conscious attempt to help the children of 'have nots' gain access to proper education and also ensure that they do not feel the class divide. "We have children whose parents come from all walks of life and different sections of society. There are more than 250 underprivileged children in our school. At least 50 of them are children of our lower level staff who are being provided free education, while the others are helped out to the maximum extent possible keeping our budget in mind," said the principal of one of the oldest CBSE schools in Visakhapatnam.

Though the principal made it clear that they were totally intolerant to the idea of a class divide, there are some parents who do not like the idea of their children rubbing shoulders with the children of the underprivileged.

Parents as well as managements of some corporate schools in Visakhapatnam believe that the government must be able to provide free education for children of the underprivileged in a separate setup with the infrastructure it has and not combine them with private schools.

According to IM Ahmed, an activist and a member of a city-based parent-teacher association, some parents were blind to the needs of the underprivileged. "Instead of seeing this opportunity as a great leveller that would help one and all, they are simply unable to accept the fact that their children would have to sit next to those who are perceived as hailing from the servant class," Ahmed said.

He added that if children were exposed to such discrimination there could be a danger of the class malady affecting the entire psyche of a new generation. Ahmed also noted that the government must not drag its feet on the issue.

However, Visakhapatnam district education officer K Krishnaveni said, "The Act is not being implemented because the government is yet to pass a GO framing the rules for the 25 per cent quota promised to the underprivileged and also because private schools have gone to court fearing that they would be financially burdened."

On concerns over standards in government schools and the falling numbers, Krishnaveni said, "Our schools are as good as private-run schools and our numbers are definitely not falling."

However, a member of the management of one of the oldest private high schools in Visakhapatnam noted, "It must be kept in mind that we are totally self-financed. If the 25 per cent quota rule for entry into first standard is implemented, the numbers will keep increasing and many of us would be forced to shut shop."

With the privileged fearing infringement, private schools apprehensive of being financially burdened and government schools apparently not up to the mark, children of the underprivileged will still find making their mark in society an uphill task.

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